Music & Arts

WOODLAWN — The 2nd Annual Appalachian Idol Talent Show, sponsored by Joy Ranch Christian Home for Children, will kick off Friday with an audition in Galax.
Appalachian Idol will be held on May 27 during the “Blue Ridge Back Roads Live” show at the Rex Theater in Galax, from 8-10 p.m.
Though most entries were of solo singers or bands last year, there was also a dancer, a guitar and drum player and a comedy act.

Still well remembered in music circles as a unique old time piano player, Haywood Blevins tells stories and tickles the keys in three CDs released by his daughter. Frances Moore, now of Wilkesboro, N.C., released the recordings as a tribute to her father, the well-respected musician who was born in Baywood in 1906.

Old-Time Saturday Night, a new monthly concert series at the Rex Theater in Galax, is another opportunity for people to dance to old-time music at the historic downtown venue.
For several years, the Rex on East Grayson Street has hosted Blue Ridge Backroads Live, a concert series of bluegrass and old-time bands broadcast live on WBRF 98.1 FM on Friday nights.

An auctioneer’s rhythmic chant is not often appreciated as a piece of music, but Tony Goodman of Galax has been using his tongue-twisting verbal skills to move more than houses and cars.
For three years, he’s been moving the collective hips and bobbing heads of the international art world.

The veteran auctioneer has been one of the most unlikely stars of the international modern performance art world.

When local Brandon Farmer was approached to write an original Christmas play for his church, he wanted to create something that would show the realities of the season.
“Christmas at The Chesterfield Hotel,” which is to be performed at Galax Pentecostal Holiness Church on Saturday and Sunday at 6 p.m., is not a typical church play, but it brings to light some messages from the Bible, said Farmer.